DNA, The Young REP, Birmingham - review

It’s a slightly misleading title.

Deoxyribonucleic acid is the genetic code which governs the development of all living organisms. With it you can work out your ancestors from hundreds of years ago or solve murders that were committed decades ago.

But Dennis Kelly’s drama is not so much a sci-fi thriller as an observation on collective responsibility in gang-culture. His other works include Matilda The Musical, and DNA is firmly established as an examination set text.

This particular gang of school students is controlled by bully John (Dejhaun Abono Lehera). It becomes clear that there has been a serious accident. Adam (Morgan Gearing) the group joker has been accidentally hit by a stone while playing about near an old mine-shaft and fallen, presumably, to his death.

The group feels shock and horror, but they want to avoid blame for the accident. It falls to the devious Phil (Daniel J Kenton) to come up with a scheme to cover up what has happened and to indicate that the blame lay elsewhere.

This involves Cathy (Imogen Pain) getting some of Adam’s clothing and Brian (Haris Myers) reporting that he had seen “a fat postman with bad teeth” in the area. Cathy goes beyond her remit by going to the postal sorting office and getting a postman fitting the imagined description to put his DNA on Adam’s jumper.

The man is soon identified, arrested and charged with murder. This now causes a moral dilemma for the group, because they would be in trouble if the told the truth as to what had happened.

However, Adam is not dead. He has escaped from the mine-shaft and been living ferally for several days. This deepens the predicament for the gang and it is suggested that if he is thought to be dead by the authorities then that’s the way it should be, and arrangements are made to suffocate him.

But the collective responsibility soon begins to break. Cathy becomes a television star, giving interviews to all the news crews. Brian has to go on medication and becomes a drooling wreck looking at a wall. John drops out and finds God. Dani (Saliha Hussain) pursues her dream of becoming a dentist, while Leah (Sophie Reynolds) Phil’s long suffering girlfriend, decides to leave the area.

Following Adam’s death it takes some time for all these character changes to take effect so that the denouement becomes a rather protracted affair and the play loses some of its emotional drive.

Generally speaking the acting is excellent, with lines being clearly delivered, and the cast stays in character throughout the performance. Director Tom Saunders keeps the drama neatly focussed and all the technical bits work well.

This is undoubtedly a well-rehearsed and strongly acted production by a very talented group of young actors. DNA runs until 7th April.

By Jerald Smith